The Hustlin’ Hoosiers of the Indiana University Men’s Soccer Team warm up ahead of a Feb. 26, 2016 exhibition match against the North American Soccer League’s Indy Eleven at the John Mellencamp Sport Pavilion in Bloomington, Indiana.
The annual tradition that pits Indy Eleven against Indiana University Men’s Soccer, now in its third year, is an excellent opportunity for a group of pros just beginning to coalesce and find their chemistry at the beginning of their preseason to test their collective skills against the products of one of the nation’s strongest collegiate programs.
But it’s more than just a pro versus the varsity starters exhibition, it’s an opportunity for players new to the state of Indiana to learn what it means to be a Hoosier.
When the pros stepped onto the turf at the John Mellencamp Sports Pavilion last night, they saw the words writ large on the walls behind the goals: “Play Hard … Play Smart … Play Physical…” When the whistle blew to start the game, they learned how it felt to see that philosophy in action. The Hoosiers came out hard.
Indy managed to score the first goal, thanks to the hustle of Brad Ring, an Eleven player who played college ball at IU from 2005-2008. As the team’s Tweeted recap explained:
“33′ GOAL INDY! Ring’s stinger from 30 blocked right into path of Smart, whose far post cross is nodded home by Zayed.”
IU continued its aggressive press, however, and managed to score and equalizer within 5 minutes. The first period concluded without any additional goals. The second period ended scoreless, as well. So the series no stands at 1-1-1, with Indy taking the first win in 2014, IU winning last year and the two settling for a tie on Friday.
What can be learned from the experience and put to use for Indy as the team continues in 2016, working though its preseason toward its home opener against the Ottawa Fury on April 9 at Michael Carroll Stadium in Downtown Indianapolis?
Here’s a word they can meditate upon moving forward: Finesse.
The word came to mind Friday as a solid Indy scoring opportunity sailed high and wide of the Hoosier net, the result of a ball blasted that could have used instead finesse.
The word applied to other instances, namely on a couple occasions where players employed showier techniques when simplicity would have work just as well. For instance, why opt for an outside-of-the-foot pass, flicked over a defender’s head with the hope it would be controlled by a rushing attacker when an simple inside-of-the-foot pass delivered with finesse to feet would have been more effective — and included the benefit of maintaining possession? The hopeful flicking (as well as hopeful blasting from deeper) often resulted in the ball stuffed right back down on Indy’s defense.
In a brief exchange after the game, when asked his thoughts about the frantic pace which Indy exhibited in the opening minutes of the match, the Hoosiers’ head coach, Todd Yeagley, said he thought the long ball blasts spoke well of his team’s aggressive efforts to step up.
Paraphrasing Yeagley here: “Most college teams would hold a compact back, trying to absorb what the [more experienced team] brings. But the Hoosiers are fit, we’ve been working out together for two months, while Indy has been back in training for just a few days. Rather than hold back, we decided to press. I don’t think they were anticipating that much pressure.”
In an interview with Greg Rakestraw’s Soccer Saturday, Indy midfielder Dylan Mares offered his post-game analysis. He noted that the 9v9 indoor format was challenging for his squad, the field smaller dimensions presented a different dynamic with two fewer players on the field.
“It’s definitely fun playing those guys (Indiana) because they work hard, they’re athletic — and it makes it challenging for us,” Mares said. “It’s not necessarily a walk in the park just because they’re a college team. And you can’t go in there thinking that. I don’t think we did.. I don’t think we came off on the right foot. But, again, it’s preseason. We’ve only been at it a week and half, two weeks now. It helps us learn a little more about ourselves going forward.”
First half notes from the sideline:
Opening minutes, Indy pacing seems rushed. They crashed many long balls.
The first scoring opportunity worth noting: an Indy forward stumbled in front of goal, leaving Brad Ring with what seemed like a good scoring opportunity. Alas, it wasn’t to be.
Then came an Indiana onslaught, a couple Hoosiers succeed in working to the far right corner of the field, bringing a mess of Indy defenders with them, they quickly dropped to a teammate rushing the right corner of the 18. As Indy Coach Tim Hankinson is screaming “Step to the ball!” a Hoosier shot forces keeper Jon Busch into action.
Indy counters, but IU is right back on the attack, forcing another Busch save. Then comes another excellent attack in which a player whose name we should know (Help Me Out Here IU Soccer Media), weaves through what seems like three Indy guys and should have scored. Alas.
Then, yet another potent fast attack from IU.
At least one Indy dude begins grumbling and Hankinson encourages him to “stay in the game (and) not loose cool.”
Don Smart enters, Siniša takes a break.
Brad Ring springs an attack from the right and Don Smart and Eamon Zayed finish the kill from the left. Goal!!!
Ring and Smart have been leaders from the team’s inaugural season in 2014. Zayed, the League of Ireland’s 2011 Player of the Year, is new to Indy this year. (Among his attacking accolades are many noted hat tricks.)
IU responds with a immediate counter from the left flank, but the shot flies wide.
Then Indiana’s Phil Fives finds a pocket — sensed by Yeagley, who screams, “There it is!” — as the kid presses from the center, then pulls wide and rips a shot from around the right corner of the 18. Scored equalized within five minutes!
Maybe three minutes later, IU shoots again, only denied the inner net because Busch threw himself in harm’s way. The resulting corner results in IU forcing Busch into action yet again. At the 1-minute-mark, IU unleashed another decent shot that sailed wide of the goal.
The second half brought a whole new starting lineup for Indy. [How many changes did the Hoosiers make? We’ll have to wait for IU to fill in the blank on that one.] The Eleven fielded many familiar Indy faces in the second half, just one new team member, Neil Shaffer.
“Possession!” Hankinson instructs.
“Why let him have it?” the coach asks a player he wished stepped up to shut down an IU possession more quickly in the midfield. “Walk forward and keep him to one side!”
To the team he advised, “Hold the ball up, building deeper and moving forward!” Also on several occasions, “Shape! On your block!”
Assistant Indy Coach Tim Regan informed the frontline, “Don’t always be looking to turn by yourself. Trap it and pass it … if it takes you more than two touches, it’s not good enough!”
Aside from IU forcing one last Busch save, Indy pressed hard enough to cause Coach Yeagley to yell at his defenders not to attempt anything fancy when the Eleven’s frontline were swarming the goal like sharks smelling blood in the water. When the pressure gets dangerous on D, Yeagley said, “it’s up and out, there’s no touch!”
His father, also the father of the IU Soccer program, former head coach Jerry Yeagley watched quietly from the sidelines, a subtle grin of what appeared to be satisfaction often spread across this lips.
Scoring Summary and lineups courtesy of the great John Koluder, Indy Eleven’s communications captain:
INDY – Eamon Zayed (Don Smart) 33’
IU – 38’
Indy Eleven 1st Half IX (3-1-3-1): Jon Busch; Lovel Palmer, Colin Falvey, Nemanja Vukovic; Nicki Paterson; Brad Ring, Sinisa Ubiparipovic (Don Smart 30’), Justin Braun; Eamon Zayed
Indy Eleven 2nd Half IX (3-1-3-1): Keith Cardona; Marco Franco (Don Smart 77’), Cory Miller, Neil Shaffer; Daniel Keller; Dragan Stojkov, Dylan Mares, Duke Lacroix; Wojciech Wojcik (Greg Janicki 67’)
An Earlham College Hustlin’ Quaker works the ball in 2010. E.C. will be hosting a tailgate party and celebrating the career of long-time soccer coach Roy Messer, who in May, after 34 years of tutoring hundreds of players in the beautiful game, passed his coaching torch on to Sam Byrd, ’03. The party is on! (Photo courtesy of Earlham College via Flickr Creative Commons)
Organizing Teams for a One-of-a-Kind Tournament Alumni from all 37 of Indiana’s collegiate soccer programs invited to play
As an exercise in building the state’s soccer community, I started to think about how to engage people statewide who are passionate about the sport.
The idea occurred to me to bring alumni of the state’s different soccer programs together for an afternoon of games and socializing, followed by an Indy Eleven game. The idea became more compelling upon discovering that Indiana has 37 collegiate soccer programs! These programs are divided over several different leagues and are scattered in every corner of the state; they never see each other in the same place at the same time. How fun to bring everyone together for once!
So that’s what we’re doing.
On Saturday, Aug. 1, beginning at 2 p.m. at IUPUI’s Michael Carroll Stadium, the inaugural Indy Eleven Higher Ed Head-To-Head will kick off. Men’s, women’s and co-ed matches will be played. These games will be followed by the Indy Eleven v. Atlanta Silverbacks match. Jamaica Reggae Grill has donated food at cost so that we can sell meat and vegetarian plates to support local soccer charities.
Player registration (which includes the Indy Eleven game) is $18; friends and family registration (which includes the Indy game) is $10. Indy Eleven will launch online registration on July 20 and welcomes questions at any time at 317-685-1100. The team has established the following Facebook Event page so people can track logistical details as we move close to game day: https://www.facebook.com/events/951037728251570/
If we want a stadium so that we can accommodate professional men’s and women’s programs and host world-class matches, if we want Futsol for Indiana initiative to provide training courts to underprivileged communities, if we want to build on our existing foundation of producing champion soccer players by providing the best coaching and player support, coming together in a fun, soccer-centered environment will help us accomplish these goals.
Many schools have greeted my calls and emails with enthusiasm; several others have yet to get involved — mostly because coaches are overwhelmed with traveling, scouting and camps in the summer. The key to engagement is finding players to step up and organize their fellow alumni, thus removing what may seem too overwhelming a task from harried coaches to-do lists.
This is a call to action: If you played or know players from schools who are organizing or have yet to organize, it is not too late to join us for our inaugural tournament. Just drop me a line or post a note to the Facebook page and organizers will help get you situated.
The following schools are working on building their teams; former players are welcome to join them:
Ball State (women/exploring)
Bethel College (men)
Butler University (men)
DePauw (men)
Earlham College (men’s and women’s)
Franklin College (men)
Indiana State (women)
Indiana Tech (polling players for interest)
IPFW (IU/Purdue Fort Wayne)
IU Bloomington (men)
Marian University (men’s and women’s)
Oakland City University (men)
University of Evansville (men)
Schools that still need alumni players to step up and lead include:
Anderson (men/women)
Bethel College (women)
Butler (women)
Calumet College of St. Joseph (men/women)
DePauw (women)
Franklin College (women)
Goshen College (men/women)
Grace College and Theological Seminary (men/women)
Hanover men (Hanover women declined to participate because they have an additional event)
Scenes from Indy Eleven’s first international friendly against Monarcas Morelia of Mexico’s first division on June 28, 2015, in Indianapolis. The hard-fought match ended 0-0.
The world blurs around Erick Norales’s son’s smile post-game in Indy Saturday night.
“Das Boot” in front of the Brickyard Battalion at the Indy Eleven home opener.
Dylan Mares, an
Indy’s Kleberson, a member of Brazil’s 2002 World Cup-winning team, is nursing muscle tightness. He supported his team from the bench during the opener, but was dressed and ready just in case circumstances called for an emergency showing. (Let’s hope our champion finds some decent massage practitioners to give him a hand — or two — to put his muscles woes behind him.)
The German born and bred goalie Kristian Nicht distributes the ball during the first half. Nicht’s nimble net minding enabled Indy to withstand New York’s attacking barrage.
Slaughterhouse 19 organizer extraordinaire Peter Evans leads the Brickyard Battalion in chants of Illuminati after a call they question by a match official.
Nicht is able to deflect a header from New York defender Rovérsio.
A celebratory smoke illustrating the home crowd’s great excitement at the debut of Jamaica’s Brian Brown, who scored for them in the 12th minute by punishing New York’s keeper. Here’s Indy Eleven’s game recap: Cosmos goalkeeper Jimmy Maurer wandered five yards out of his penalty area to head away a through ball, but his clearance made it only as far as Brown, as the Jamaican took a touch before looping a ball inside the right post and into the empty net from 30 yards out.
A goal earns Brian Brown a pat on the back from Head Coach Juergen Sommer.
Indy Eleven team members celebrate putting the first goal on the scoreboard during their home opener of the 2015 season.
Spanish superstar Raúl brought his telltale flair to the game. Here, Indy defender Greg Janicki, a Michigan native, will survive the pressure, but later a perfectly played header will prove the former Real Madrid player was the investment for New York as he forces Indy to settle for a tie. Last season, the Cosmos tied the Eleven three times. In the first two matches of last season, New York scored within the first 10 minutes. Nice change of pace for Indy to get on early in 2015.
Indy players warm up with a little classic 2 v 5.
The New York Cosmos warm up their sprinting muscles.
New York’s superstars Marcos Senna and Raúl warming up pre-game.
Enjoy these highlights of an exciting home opener for Indy Eleven Pro Soccer’s 2015 season in the North American Soccer League.
The storied New York Cosmos brought heavy offensive firepower, including Raúl, a legendary Real Madrid player, and Marcos Senna, a star from La Liga’s Villarreal club. The talent ran much deeper than the marquee with the Cosmos presenting a united and constant threat to Indy, dominating about 60 percent of possession.
Player of the game: Newcomer Brian Brown for putting Indy on the board — an excellent message to send to New York and all his new fans. Jamaican soccer? Yes, please! Indiana can work with that!
Honorable mention: Kristian Nicht. Without him, Indy would not have walked away from this match with a tie. Truly some excellent saves from our German friend.
Really, though. Honorable mention to everyone! How great to see the team emerge this evening after the evolution of this past year. Last year at this time, the roster was nowhere near complete and six members of the team were rookies. This year, a team of pro veterans stepped to the field, a team that is showing promising signs of continued creativity and chemistry.
Keeping the world posted on “the experiment,” as Kléberson first termed Indy’s pro soccer operation, is an honor and a duty for this player/coach/fan/analyst.
Expect to find a barrage of tasty soccer treats posted here — and perhaps in conjunction with some exciting new friends — as the season progresses.
Cologne Germany’s Brickyard Battalion contingent — Indy Eleven’s first international supporters’ club. (Photo courtesy of Andreas Küpper)
Soccer fans in Cologne, Germany, a sister city of Indianapolis, have vowed to support the team. Check out my recent story for IndyEleven.com on the team’s fist international fan club.
Evident ever since I first began kicking the ball at the age of 12 — that’s decades ago — soccer has been my number one true love. No objectivity here — I’m backing my team all the way. But it’s way more than my team, I’m backing Indiana soccer — a great tradition, not “a new sport” as Erika Smith called it in her opinion piece declaring that Indy Eleven can just hold on and be patient with its second-class facilities. [Curious timing on Smith’s piece, incidentally, seeing as it came just a day after another story advocating tax-payer support of Angie’s List, a local company with an exciting growth story that provides many jobs, but also has yet to turn a profit.]
Back this stadium as a tip of the hat to Indiana’s World Cup stars: DaMarcus Beasley of Fort Wayne, who anchored the U.S. in Brazil last summer, and midfielder Lauren Cheney, an Indy native and Ben Davis grad who is a central artery of the U.S. Women’s National Team heading to Canada this summer for the Women’s World Cup.
Back it as a tribute to the Yeagley family, who have worked for decades to leave Bloomington a world-class soccer reputation, as well as all the other coaches who have worked to build this game in the state — my coaches from Earlham, Shane Meridith and Roy Messer — my brother, Ryan Wilson, who has worked for years to build Rossville Area Youth Soccer. Do it for all the soccer players who have grown up in inner city Indy playing soccer with Tab Rec and the other old-school urban leagues here and around the state — Evansville has mad soccer skills and even LaGrange throws down. State lawmakers would do well to count how many soccer fields are in their districts — and they’d do well to get a look of the true joy they will find on the faces of people engaged in the game that unites people across cultural differences better than almost anything else but food and music.
Back the Stadium for Indiana as a tribute to Notre Dame Men’s Soccer Team for winning a national championship in 2013 and IU’s men’s team for taking the title in 2012 — like they’ve done seven other times since 1982. More than a dozen national team members came from college teams in Indiana.
Back it as a way to honor the millions of Hoosiers who have played and who have loved soccer. The Germans on the southside have been playing for at least the last century.
Back it so that our children can, for just $10, see absolutely amazing athletes perform what the whole world knows as the beautiful game. If that stadium materializes, Indy will be more attractive to the players it courts (boosting our roster so we can start winning championships) and it will provide space and staffing for more high-level training opportunities for Indiana’s soccer community as a whole.
We’ll have a lot more to say about the economics once the team’s latest analysis is released. From what I understand so far, the fees Indy Eleven’s current audiences are already paying on tickets, refreshments, etc., should be enough to pay the debt service on the deal. No new taxes at this point. And, if the pitch is indeed grass, it supports the local turf grass growers, Indy kicks up its game — and the city is better able to compete for major international tournaments. Plus, if we’re ultimately providing this stadium because we love the game and we want to see the best players that we possibly can, then let them play on grass. Forcing slide tackles on artificial turf is poor form at best and just mean at worst. This is the time for Hoosier hospitality.
In conclusion, as a life-long player (and now coach, parent of a player and soccer writer) I call on my fellow Hoosiers to embrace soccer — it makes us tough, it makes us healthy, it makes us sexy, it makes us the best Hoosiers we can be.
Let’s see what our legislative leaders have in store for us … Stay tuned.
Here’s the slick video which the team released today:
Indy Eleven President and GM joined Townsend last August in her hometown of Bloomington, Indiana, to catch Indiana University host Wilt’s alma mater Marquette University. The match went 1-0 in the Hoosier’s favor, though the Golden Eagles pitched a hard-fought battle and were, in Townsend’s opinion denied a penalty kick when the ref missed a last-minute Hoosiers error in the penalty box.
Though it’s taken mainstream media some time to really “get” the story, reporter (and lifelong soccer junkie) Rebecca Townsend has been on Peter Wilt and the Indy Eleven since the beginning. She and Wilt first met in November 2012 and taped their first interview on the steps of the Indiana War Memorial in December of 2012, discussing his intention to help start a pro soccer team in Indianapolis.
In December 2014 at the Elbow Room, a pub just steps away from the memorial, Townsend and Wilt reconnected to reflect on all that’s happened since their last 2013 December debriefing: Dozens of amazing soccer games in Downtown Indianapolis, the best fan attendance in the North American Soccer League — better, even, than many larger-market Major League Soccer Teams, the league’s longest-running shutout record (in terms of minutes played without a goal scored) and two huge wins to wind out the season. [Now comes the huge roster shakeup and less than 100 days till the opening of spring season.]
The following is edited for clarity and length [though it is still massive, especially by today’s standards]:
Rebecca: I love this time of year because it reminds me of when you first came to town.
Peter: Two years and two months.
Rebecca: What are some of the things you learned in 2014?
Peter: In a way it’s like opening a present and finding out what’s inside it. But it’s more than that because that would be a total unknown. We knew we were building something. We spent a year working with so many partners to create something, not quite knowing what it would be, having some expectations. This year has been an amazing unveiling of … I apologize for the triteness, but it’s the fruits of the labor. Not just of the front office, but of everyone we’ve partnered with.
The success results from the contributions of everyone involved. The easy part is looking at the numbers and selling out the game, and how many tickets sold and how many people went to the game. But really the success to me is the depth of emotional connection, of the passion that people in the community have for this team. …It wasn’t necessarily work, it was just working with people, talking to people, negotiating and then promoting.. getting people excited.
Seeing that people did get excited, that to me is the ultimate result of it.
It wasn’t just that 10,000 people bought tickets to every game. It’s that the people that did come to the games loved it and they cared about it.
If we lost it hurt them. It’s weird to say, but: That’s good. It’s good they were pained; that means they cared. The worst thing is apathy. I don’t I think there was much apathy for this team and this organization and that bodes well for the future.
Indy fans offer Sergio Peña a standing ovation as he leaves the field following a dubious red card during Indy’s hard-fought 2-3 loss to the Atlanta Silverbacks in August. Rebecca Townsend
Rebecca: Let’s talk about expectations going into the season and think about how that played out.
Peter: I expected we were gonna win.
Rebecca: Did you, really honestly expect that we were going to win in the beginning?
Peter: Yes! I thought New York was going to be the only team better than us. They were better than us. But there were a few others that were also better than us.
Rebecca: How can a man that knows so much about soccer be so wrong?
Peter: Two things: I underestimated the rest of the league and I overestimated our team, especially our defense. Our back line was awful. Every game we were giving up the first goal and it was often an early goal and we were chasing the game and our attacking options weren’t that great either. We weren’t as good as I thought we were.
Rebecca: Do you think Juergen was more realistic about the building process?
Peter: Yeah! Juergen throughout the whole process tried to set expectations — and set low expectations — and I wanted none of it.
Rebecca: It seems you guys may have found a happy medium in the end. We lost a lot but toward the end of the season, we pulled out some amazing …
Peter: We fixed the defense by signing Cory Miller.
Rebecca: It’s important to note, though, that we still have a lot of the key elements of that defensive line that was supposedly so problematic in the beginning: We still have Jaimi, Eric, Kyle…
Indy’s first starting line-up. From Lower Left: AJ Corrado, Mike Ambersley, Kyle Highland, Corby Moore and Chris Estridge. Upper row, from left: Kléberson, Walter Ramirez, Brad Ring, Erick Norales, Jaimi Frias and Kristian Nicht. Norales, Frias, Nicht and Hyland remain key elements of the D, as will Brad Ring, who often pops in from a defensive mid position to help cull impending threats on the back third of the field. With the late-season addition of Cory Miller and the post-season signing of Greg Janicki, who won the 2014 NASL championship as a member of the San Antonio Scorpions, Indy’s defense continues to build.
Peter: Moving forward, the back line is the best it’s ever been for us. We’re in good shape with that. Our attacking options we fixed at the end of the year, but now they’re gone because we couldn’t afford them. They’re either too old or too hurt.
We hope we could get Charlie Rugg back, which would be huge.
And we have the money now to go sign a couple more forwards.
We couldn’t afford Jhulliam. His option is at a stupid high option number.
Couldn’t afford or want Jermaine [Johnson]: His option number higher, health bad. Other issues.
Mike Ambersley: His option number was high – his age is getting up. We have concerns about his productivity. You don’t want to pay a player for what he’s done in the past. Like stocks: past performance not necessarily indicator of future performance. Mike Ambersley served a really important role for us last year. But he’s not the answer to scoring goals directly himself and his age and is health are question going forward. The cost of his contract was higher, so we decided to go in a different direction. Now it’s a matter of finding the right players.
Mike Ambersley (center) being choked by an Atlanta Silverbacks defender. Ambersley took A LOT of punishment on behalf of the team throughout 2014 — he truly left it all on the field in his pursuit of goals. He scored six times for the club last season. (Photo by R. Townsend)
Rebecca: Was Mike the most difficult decision?
Peter: Mike and Jermaine were the two most difficult ones. By far.
Jhulliam, as good as he is, was not a difficult decision because of the option price was ridiculously high. We couldn’t sign four or five other players. Jhulliam might come back and say he couldn’t get a better deal — his age is good, his talent is good — we’d love to have him on the team — his attitude. All of that is good, but it’s just the money …
Rebecca: How much wiggle room do you get because it is Indy? Does the soccer enthusiasm trade in for players being willing to maybe take less but be involved with more?
Peter: That’s helping us. A number of players and agents are calling us saying their players love playing in Indy. Would love to play here all the time. That absolutely helps — it expand the pool of talent.
Also, last year I don’t think we has enough players with experience in this league. This is a unique league, as any league is … You need players that know what it’s about to be successful in this league: what the training is like, what the travel is like, what the opponents are like … We had two players with significant experience in this league: Mike Ambersley and Pedro Mendes (gone after spring season for “a number of reasons”) .. most teams have five times that number of players. I think that was problematic.
Now, in theory, everyone we’re bringing back has experience in this league. We’re recruiting players in this league who have been successful in this league who like what they see in Indy.
Rebecca: What’s so different about playing in this league?
Peter: It’s a physical league and the travel is hard.
Rebecca: More so than others?
Peter: Any league in the world except for Russia — and in major league soccer — has less travel. This is the third-hardest league in the world from a travel perspective. In England, half your games are in two hours. … Frankly the training conditions, the locker rooms – this is a hard league. And on the field very physical..
Rebecca: Because people are trying to make their names, right? This is where you either make it or you don’t?
Peter: Well they’re trying to do this throughout the world. But the nature of American players, they are not as technical as in Latin America or Europe or Africa — they’re making it on their physical muscle and it’s hard. It’s different. And players who may be successful in different systems, aren’t necessarily successful in this one.
Rebecca: In terms of thinking of soccer as a business, but also passion-driven: How do you have find that balance between business logic and breeding loyalty where everyone is all-in …
Peter: It’s all at the end of the day business. Winning games is good business. It’s about winning. What goes into winning isn’t purely physical skills. It’s also about character, work rate, selflessness — characteristics that help a team win.
You might be the greatest player in the world in terms of physical qualities, but there is also character, mental tactical aspects of your makeup as well. And I don’t think we had the best balance of those characteristics in the spring season. We improved it in the fall season, but we’re still not perfect. I don’t think we have as much quality on the leadership aspect as a winning team needs to have.
That doesn’t mean we don’t have good guys …
Brazilian World Cup Champ Kléberson netted 5 penalty goals for Indy Eleven in its inaugural 2014 season.
Take a player like Kléberson … Fantastic player, fantastic guy, good character, but he’s not a traditional leader, he’s not a vocal leader. Even throwing aside the language barrier, it’s not in his personality to be an outgoing leader. He leads by example, and that’s excellent, but this team needs more players with the personality to be outgoing leaders.
Rebecca: Kristian, who is very vocal, felt like he wasn’t filling that leadership role, as well. So, yet to be determined on who will be the heart of the team to drive it forward?
Maybe leadership is the answer. I want to be more specific on that question. If love and loyalty are important to making players hit the top of their potential for their team .. but yet everyone is a professional who knows this is business and may hinge on statistics at the end of a season that may not value selflessness … How do you get those important qualities, that love and loyalty in an environment that is, on its face, business?
Peter: Get to know players before you sign them that have those positive qualities.
When you’re assessing a player, it’s about all that. You recognize that not every player is going to have positive check marks in each of those areas, but you want to minimize the negative checkmarks and maximize the positive ones.
Rebecca: For players not from Indiana, how do we make them care about Indiana more than anywhere else they’ve been and want to perform?
Peter: I think the fans have done that. Any player that played for us last year loves the fans and loves the atmosphere they created. That part is are good as it can get. But not all the players were either good enough or strong-minded enough. So, obviously we’re making changes. You’re going to have some turnover for the very best of teams. The Galaxy’s season ended two days ago with a championship. A week from now, they’ll have at least six openings — on a championship team, including Landon Donovan. And that’s the best of teams. Those that finish near the bottom, like us, it’s going to be more than six and maybe a dozen.
We renewed eight contracts. We’ll end up re-signing two or three more than that — maybe 11. Then we’ll have another dozen or so new signings. … Two new backup goalkeepers ..
Hopefully they’ll challenge Kristian and make him perform better and maybe even perform well themselves.
From left: Nathan Sprenkel, Jon Dawson and Kristian Nicht. Sprenkel and Dawsom helped stock local support for the team, Sprenkel as a DePauw University alum and Dawson of Butler.
Rebecca: Can you tell me what happened with the goalies? When I saw them in practice, they seemed to be working. They were stopping the ball when it came their way. They looked committed to their training.
Peter: The coaches’ assessment was they weren’t pushing Kristian enough.
Rebecca: I don’t know how you push Kristian more because when Kristian Nicht should sit his butt on the bench because he can’t stand up straight because he’s got heat stroke, nobody ever pulled him off to give anyone else a chance.
I don’t know… He’s German. He doesn’t sit down. He doesn’t stop until he’s dead.
Indy Eleven’s first player employee Kristian Nicht is a veteran of Germany’s elite Bundesliga. The 6′ 4′, 224-pound, 32-year-old played 2,430 minutes for Indy Eleven in 2014.
Peter: The other goal keepers had chances in friendlies. They didn’t perform up to the standards the coaches held for them.
Rebecca: That’s too bad, but I guess that’s the way it is. I didn’t see those games, I guess. I just saw them sitting on the bench and working hard in practice. How did everybody take it?
Peter: Understanding it’s part of the business. There’s good communication throughout the year with the coaches and the players. They know where they stand. Frankly, it’s easier to let go of players after a bad year than after a good year. All you have to do is point to the standings and say: You were part of this, and it didn’t work out so well. Including myself.
Rebecca: Yeah, you and Juergen. My expectations were like yours … but maybe there are some realities Juergen can help us understand better about how to grow.
Peter: By making changes to the players, that doesn’t mean we’re absolving ourselves from responsibility. We’re part of it, including the players we kept. They are part of the responsibility of our failings.
Rebecca: How do you and Juergen communicate about the games?
Peter: First I have to watch the game, if it’s a home game i haven’t seen the whole game … I’ll either sit down with Juergen or talk to him on the phone. We’ll go through the pluses and the minuses. Usually after the game I go back to the locker room for a debriefing, we go through the individuals, what went well, what didn’t… I get out to practice at least once a week. Maybe twice. Watch and talk. We are bombarded everyday with player applications or agents that want to come in. We talk about those everyday. We’re always trying to improve the team.
Rebecca: How did you find Dragan Stojkov, our new player from Macedonia?
Peter: Dragan came from the L.A. Galaxy. He actually came in with Charlie Rugg. We couldn’t sign because him because he is international and we were at our limit, but he could train with us and that allowed him a chance to learn about us and vice versa… He’s a very good player. He’s hard-working and humble. He’s going to be a real asset to the team. He’s very good.
Rebecca: What was your favorite game this season?
Peter: The game in Edmonton that we won at the end.
Rebecca: What stands out about that game? Just the fact that you got it at the end?
Peter: It was very emotional. They outplayed us up and down the field. We had no business winning. They hit the left post, the right post, they hit the crossbar. They probably hit the woodwork probably five times in that game.
Then, maybe ten minutes, nine minutes left, we had a player taken down in the box … It was a clear penalty to me. But because it was toward the end of the game and possibly because we didn’t deserve to win, the referee didn’t call the penalty.
Rebecca: Oh, really? Does that factor in? You don’t deserve to win, so …
Peter: Of course not…[sarcasm]. It’s harder to call a penalty late in the game when it’s going to decide the outcome.
I was in the stands, standing behind the supporters from Edmonton. And when that wasn’t called, I went ballistic. (Away games for me are different from home games because I’m watching the game. Home games I don’t get as tied into the competition as in the away games. I’m much more of a fan at away games than at home games.)
[An emotional Wilt stomped down the bleachers past supports club and on to the field.]
I might have thrown out some four letter words and embarrassed myself and the organization in the process, but I was upset. I made my way around to the other side behind our bench. I was pumped up. At that point I said, “We deserve to win!”
Rebecca: Were you screaming at your players at this point?
Peter: I slammed our bench shields. It’s still 0-0. I can’t remember which, but one player turned around expecting to see an Edmonton fan, a crazy guy. He was half right. It was the latter. Soon after that was when a blocked shot in the box that rebounded to Kléberson and he put it away.
Rebecca: Bam!
Peter: At minute 99.
Kléberson celebrates after driving a late-game game winner against F.C. Edmonton (also playing its inaugural season in 2014). Despite being hobbled by injury, Kléberson proved to be the team’s most consistent offensive threat in 2014, scoring eight goals in 20 appearances.
Probably embarrassed the organization more with some more four letter words.
“F. yeah! F. yeah! We deserved it! Cheater’s proof! Going back to seven-year-old logic. Yelling at the fourth official a little, saying, “See!”
That was the first Indy Eleven NASL victory I attended. I wasn’t at the Carolina game. I had the Open Cup at home. This was the first NASL win I’d been at. Celebrated afterwords in a damn-straight way. Hell, yeah! That’s it. Yeah, that was my favorite game.
Rebecca: What was it like: our first home win here, for you?
Peter: It felt like a fait accompli. Not that we would win that game, but at some point, obviously, we knew we’d win a home game. … Whereas the Brickyard Battalion was pumped for a pitch invasion … I watched the end of the game in the Brickyard Battalion, but had no desire whatsoever to have a cathartic rush to the field. The Edmonton game to me was more cathartic and emotional than the Minnesota game. The Minnesota game was more of a sigh of relief.
Rebecca: Taking out No.1 is pretty special right?
Peter: Oh, I was thrilled. But it was more of a quiet, internal moment of Yeah, we did it. An accomplishment; I was really proud and excited.
I was in the last row in the Brickyard Battalion. Watching the pink smoke come up … Brickyard Battalion breast cancer awareness … I watched it all unfold from up there, it was a beautiful sight.
Rebecca: Did it bring tears to the eyes to see so many people so emotional?
Peter: Yeah! I was very proud. It was very rewarding. That was a manifestation of all the work our staff had put in, our players had put in, the coaches, the community. To see them being able to release the pent up energy was fantastic.
The Townsend Family, Clyde, Rebecca and Jasmine, found President Wilt pretty in pink and all smiles post-game on Oct. 11 — his team’s first home win in a NASL match.
There were a couple celebrations around town … (but) I didn’t get out of the stadium until 1 a.m., so I ended up not going to either, but while driving home I saw some Minnesota supporter friends of mine lost, looking for their hotel, so I gave them a ride. Then I went home and the game was just finishing up on television and I watched the end of it and I saw the pitch invasion.
And I got to see more closely via television the celebration, and I saw Kristian Nicht celebrate with his daughters. And I got a little emotional then. [Peter actually breaks up at this point and gets emotional, tears up.] It was more meaningful than if we had won the first game, you know?
Rebecca: I was ready for that first win. And then it hurt more and more throughout the season. Then it got to a point where it was like: This is baloney. We are playing hard enough. We deserve to win. But to have worked through the pain and difficulty of loss, it makes it more valuable. It’s not easy. Looking forward to 2015: What are the chances of some international travel?
Soccer Diplomacy: Indy Eleven staff members John Koluder and Guy-Jo Gordon present team scarves to the Madame Minister Lukenge who visited Indiana in May to, among other things, meet with people involved in the WAZA Alliance educational outreach efforts in the D.R. Congo. (Photo by R. Townsend)
Peter: I haven’t heard anything from Africa in a while, from the Congo… Not looking good.
TP Mazembe’s team crest. Madame Minister Lukenge of Lubumbashi, D.R. Congo, joked that her team’s crocodile would eat Indy Eleven’s canine mascot, Zeke the Zouave.
Moïse Katumbi is governor of D.R. Congo’s Katanga Providence — a current front-runner in an upcoming presidential election. He is also a former fútboler and current owner of the club TP Mazembe, which a Jan. 20 Financial Times article referred to as “one of the best-run football clubs in sub-Saharan Africa.” Katumbi has expressed interest in hosting Indy Eleven. Should the Eleven play in D.R. Congo, they may be the first U.S. club to play on African soil, though more exact stats are needed to confirm this assertion.
Rebecca: About the stadium, how do you get the necessary buy-in?
Peter: Education. Whether it’s the legislators or the public, the media. It’s just educating, so they don’t take things at the surface level of pre-existing concepts of what stadium asks are often about. If they take the time and we do a good enough of a job of educating and teaching them about what we’re proposing, we’ll be fine.
Rebecca: Let’s review the basic points: Is this a tax increase or not?
Peter: It will not be a tax increase. We’re already charging a 10 percent facility fee on our games on our tickets. So that money would just go to pay off to paying off the debt service. That would be true for all the events held at our stadium.
Rebecca: So the Marion County Capital Improvement Board would issue a bond on your behalf and you’d pay it with fees charged to ticket, refreshments and gear?
Peter: Yes, and there’s other revenues that go in including income taxes from our athletes and the employees that work at the stadium and that sort of thing.
Rebecca: Is there any way the taxpayer can get screwed on this deal?
Peter: I’m the president of a soccer team, so that’s a better question for financial experts.
Rebecca: What’s the cost again?
Peter: $87 million — about 12 percent of what Lucas Oil Stadium was 10 years ago.
Rebecca: How many fields do we get for that?
Peter: To be determined. Certainly, obviously, the stadium field. I think if there would be practice fields in additional to that, we’d pay for them privately.
Rebecca: Are we certain this will be a grass field?
Peter: No. I think it’s very likely it would be.
Rebecca: Well, President Wilt, that will do for now. [BTW — It better DAMN WELL be grass.]
Editor’s note: For continued news on the quest for an Indy Eleven stadium, stay tuned to Hoosier Shangrila.
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